by Des Pensable
‘Lord Darkmantle must have some type of magic control on him.’ she thought.
‘He can’t tell me because he swore not to tell anyone but he has given me a clue to his predicament. He might be telling me the truth.’
‘Okay. I believe that you want to help.’ said Miranda.
‘Get me some swamp safronium leaves, it will dull the pain but keep my senses alert, and some milky sogwort, it’ll protect my insides. I don’t want you to erase any memory of these deeds. I want to remember every face that I see torturing me to ensure that I kill every last one of the bastards.’
‘Now, now. Talk of vengeance is a poor idea. That only will convince the guards that you haven’t cracked under their torment. You must act like you’re going mad, then you might have convinced them.
Four Newman guards called in to collect her and dragged her back to the torture room. She was again force fed with the horrible swill and restrained on the stone bench in front of the leering statue. She dizzily looked at the pink recently healed areas on her naked body in the mirror above her head and wondered what torments the mad whisperer had in mind this time.
She didn’t have long to wait. The mist cloud flowed out of the mouth of the leering statue and floated over to her head and began whispering how much it had enjoyed the previous night and was fully looking forward to this session.
‘You will notice a small difference in the platform you are on tonight.’ And it began laughing hysterically.
‘I have had the platform covered in black rock that will block the magic of your tattoo. You can no longer call on your goddess. This time you are all mine. Scream as much as you like. It’s music to my ears. Hehehaha.’
Miranda strained against the restraints and vowed to kill every one of the guards slowly and painfully when she got the chance.
The mist turned into a Newman male head with small fluttering wings where its ears should have been. It flew around her with the deranged look in its eyes and the horrible leer.
‘Now what would you enjoy first. Perhaps we should kiss and be lovers.’ It whispered and it flew down onto her face pressing its lips against hers and then slithered its slimy tongue into her mouth and down her throat. She gagged and tried to bite it but it was tough as bark. It moved it up and down and around in a disgusting way in her mouth giving off a revolting taste as she struggled to cough it out.
Finally it flew backwards, hovering only two hand spans from her face dangling its tongue, which looked black and scaly like a snake but covered in sores. She was instantly sick and vomited all over her neck and chest.
‘Ah. You mustn’t do that.’ It whispered.
‘We will need to feed you some more of our lovely food. But before that maybe we can have some fun elsewhere.’ and it slowly flew backwards away from her face making licking movements with its revolting tongue and watching the fear on her face.
Miranda screamed for the Lady to protect her but this time nothing happened. It fluttered down landing just below her navel and poked the revolting tongue into her navel and wriggled it.
‘Does this delight you my princesssss.’
She writhed and screamed and hurled obscenities at it. It flew back to her face and whispered.
‘Do want another kiss my love. No. Maybe something even better. Something deep and soft and delicious.’ Then moved its tongue in and out its mouth with a slurping sound and while rolling its eyes and started flying backwards towards her navel again.
She closed her teary eyes, concentrated all her will and imagined a bear in her mind and shouted to it.
‘I need you my love. I need you right now. Tain my love! Please hear me! I need you now. Come to me! Save me!’
Through her eyelids she saw a green glow. She opened her eyes and saw a glowing green passion flower floating over her that transformed into a ball of clay the size of an orange like the one Aquitain had. It hovered above her chest as if waiting for a command.
She imagined it was a dagger with green flame enveloping the blade and she sent it plunging into the floating head between its tormented eyes. The head split into two halves and they reformed as two flying heads. Both heads gloated at her and laughed and poked out horrible tongues. She slashed at another head with her fiery dagger and it parted and reformed into two heads. She slashed it again and it parted into another two heads. Now there were four heads leering at her waggling their tongues.
‘Ah. You want four times the pleasure do you?’ whispered one of them.
She withdrew her floating flaming dagger back to her chest confused and madly trying to think through the dizzy fog in her mind while the heads circled around her with madly contorted faces dribbling spittle on her arms and legs.
The eyes in the heads began to glow red and she felt herself going sleepy. She struggled to stay awake. She looked at the dagger and it reformed to its ball shape hovering over her chest. She imagined it as a small bear. It floated down onto her chest stood upright and growled a warning at the grotesque heads and she passed out into dreamless sleep feeling calm and protected.
Periodically she awoke and saw her little green bear scrambling around her body attacking small flying creatures trying to land and bite her. Then later several rats attacked the bear and there was a terrible fight on her chest and stomach and thighs as the bear slowly but surely tore them apart. It seemed invincible and she mumbled how much she loved it. The assault seemed to go on for hour after hour.
She was exhausted but concerned about a painful bulge in her abdomen which seemed to be moving. Was it a Bog Wasp grub growing inside her? How could she fight it? She hazily tried to remember what she knew about wasps. They generally paralysed their host, laid an egg that hatched into a grub that then ate its host’s flesh eventually killing the host and emerging as a full-grown wasp. Some wasps even used other wasps as hosts. That was the answer!
She turned her little green bear into a little green grub told it to burrow through her skin into her abdomen and seek and destroy the bog wasp grub. Then she went unconscious again.
Sometime later she awoke and the bulge was gone and the little bear stood on her abdomen looking and growling at the leering stone statue. A cloud of mist flew out of the statue’s mouth and formed into the leering face.
‘Good you’re awake again. What shall we do this time?’ It teased.
‘I know. Let’s ask the black blob.’ It replied and the cloud of mist turned into the creature from Miranda’s worst nightmare.
The black blob had haunted her dreams as a child. She feared it more than anything. She had run from it countless times but it relentlessly pursued her. The only way she had found to get away from it was to wake up. Currently that wasn’t an option as she was already awake. At least she thought she was.
‘Destroy it!’ she shouted to her little green bear and it flew at the black blob and there was a terrible fight in the air that lasted for several minutes until finally the bear roared victoriously as the blob turned to mist.
This time Miranda went on the offensive. She turned the bear into an iron hammer and it flew across to the stone statue and began pounding at the head. A crack appeared and as the hammer thumped and smashed at the head the crack enlarged and spread until finally the head shattered. The hammer reformed into her little bear and it flew down onto her chest looked adoringly into her eyes curled up and went to sleep. She smiled, thanked it and went to sleep herself.
The next day when Miranda awoke on the same bed in the wizard’s residence, she was covered in bruises, burns, scratches and horrid bite marks. It was as if her body had been a small battleground.
When the wizard came to see her she was lying naked on the bed covered by a single blood splattered sheet. He had a stern look on his face.
‘I witnessed a little of what happened last night. You didn’t try very hard to convince the guards that you were about to go mad. You fought for hours. Finally when you passed out they thought that you must have given in. If I tell them that you did give in
I think they will believe me. However you will have to back me up and act suitably broken or you will end up in there again.’
‘I am truly sorry that I had to put you through that ordeal. Please let me erase the memory. It will leave a dark mark in your mind that may harm you in the future. I don’t wish to be responsible for that.’
‘Is that how you justify this in your mind?’ said Miranda angrily. ‘You just look the other way and erase the memories of the victims as if nothing ever happened?’
‘Well in my case it did happen and I’m not going to let you erase it. I want to remember what beasts you, your Lord and your guards really are.’
‘Dragonfly put on the robe at the bottom of the bed and come out and have some hot tea with me.’ said the wizard. ‘I want you to show you something.’
She angrily got out of the bed and reached for the white robe. As she did so she noticed all the bite marks and bruises and it brought back memories of her brutal treatment last night. She remembered how ugly she looked now. She donned the robe and the glamour previously cast on her reappeared. She now looked pretty again. Her flabby body covered with bruises and bite marks disappeared to be replaced by an attractive Elendari body with slim limbs and greenish scaly skin.
She walked into the adjoining room to see the wizard seated beside a small table poring two cups of tea. Across the room from him set in a frame leaning against the wall was a large mirror, both taller and wider than she was.
‘Dragonfly, Go to the mirror and stand in front of it and look at yourself.’ She did as she was instructed.
‘What do you see.’ said the wizard.
‘I see myself.‘ said Dragonfly.
‘What do you remember about yesterday, Dragonfly?’
She panicked a little. She couldn’t quite remember what had happened yesterday. She started to remember but it was too terrible. She wanted it to go away. She didn’t want to remember.
‘What to you remember about yesterday, Miranda?’
On hearing her real name the memories started tumbling back, the horror, the pain, the indignity and the shame. Her anger rose. It was the wizard. He was manipulating her like a puppet. She had to stop him.
Prendergrass was watching her body reactions and facial expressions carefully in the mirror. It was time to act. He put down the fine porcelain cup and said.
‘I dare say you’d like to kill me but you can’t move because you’re whole body from the neck down is paralysed.’ and she found it was.
‘My goodness your gown has disappeared.’ and it did and she was naked.
‘Now what do you see in the mirror.’
‘I see the ugly bitch you turned me into. I see the bruises and bite marks of the bastards that tortured me and I’ll get even with you no matter what.’ said Miranda with vengeance in her voice.
‘Good.’ said the wizard. ‘You’re nearly there. Now look down to your right hand. You’ll see a small pebble. It has quite remarkable powers.’
‘Now use it to eliminate all those unsightly marks and bruises.’
Miranda concentrated on the stone and slowly all the marks and bruises disappeared.
‘Now change your appearance back to what it was before I made you ugly.’
She concentrated and miraculously her features changed to her original form. She was back to her beautiful self again. Then she suddenly thought that if the stone was powerful enough to do all these things it could probably break the paralysis power that held her. She concentrated on the stone and her limbs became normal again. She spun around intending to attack him but stopped dead in her tracks. He just sat there looking at her sipping his tea.
‘You’re very attractive naked. You look just like your mother.’
Miranda was suddenly embarrassed and imagined that she still had the robe on and it appeared.
‘I’d prefer it off.’ said the wizard and it disappeared again.
‘Damn you wizard!’ screamed Miranda. ‘It’s staying on,’ and the robe appeared over her body again.
‘If you disobey me, I’ll take away the magic pebble.’ said the wizard and it disappeared.
‘No you won’t.’ said Miranda and to her surprise the pebble reappeared in her sweaty hand.
‘Bravo.’ said the wizard clapping his hands. ‘You have mastered the main elements of the illusion. Now use the pebble to erase the terrible ordeal that you suffered the last two nights. It didn’t happen. It was all an illusion.’
Her mind froze. It was all an illusion. The memories came flooding back. Her mother Snowbelle had repeatedly warned her about how powerful the illusions could be in Moonmist. She had never listened. She thought her mother was exaggerating. Now she had experienced it firsthand. It was all so real.
‘No.’ she replied. ‘I won’t erase it. I want those memories as a constant reminder of how powerful illusions can be in this place. I don’t want to ever have to go through anything like that again.’
‘Are you sure?’ queried the wizard. ‘It may affect how you relate to men in the future.’
‘Yes. I’m sure. I’ve never really related well with men anyway. I guess it’s due to having a nymph for a mother. She kills every man that gets near her.’
‘It must be hard to have a boyfriend. You could never take him home to meet your mother.’
‘Yes. It has been hard until recently. Then I discovered this lovely bear. He’s so brave and courageous. Mum likes him too and he’s immune to her charms.’
‘Ha ha ha.’ laughed the wizard. ‘Very pretty and a sense of humour too. Wonderful. I couldn’t have wished for more. I’ve heard that she’s not too keen on wizards.’
‘Yes.’ replied Miranda walking over to the wizard and sitting down at the table. ‘I’ve never quite understood that. She’s said several times that there’s never been a wizard born that you can trust but I’ve never found out why she hates them so much. You wouldn’t happen to know would you?’
‘Er. No. I wouldn’t have a clue. Now back to the present situation. The pebble is an illusion.’
‘What?’ said Miranda suddenly panicking ‘How can it be. It cured me.’
‘No. The pebble was only a token. It represented your willpower. By concentrating on the pebble you were able to manipulate the illusion to your wishes. Imagine it gone and it will disappear.’
‘Remember that I cast two effects on you. One was a polymorph to change your features and the other a glamour to give you the dragonfly persona.
The glamour is actually quite powerful and permanent unless you dispel it. It allows you to change your image to suit your mood. Many of the Elendari women wear these glamours like you would wear clothes on Mudrun. In actual fact you are naked. The robe you are wearing and the Dragonfly body are the glamour covering you in the illusion you wish to display.’
‘Can you see through it?’ asked Miranda both curious and a little shocked.
‘Yes, if I choose to. However, I’ve grown accustomed to seeing pretty women and so will all the other Elendari men and women. They may sneak a peek at your real looks but will prefer to see your Dragonfly persona.’
‘Did the glamour cause those terrible events last night?’
‘No that was caused by an hallucinogenic drug in the food and that mirror suspended over your head. Once you had eaten, it only took a couple of simple suggestions to you and your mind and the mirror of illusions took over. You created your own nightmares in your own personal Chamber of Horrors.’
‘On Moonmist the plants get very little light to grow. So most of the edible plants use hallucinogenic chemicals in their leaves and fruits to limit what eats them. People from Mudrun are very vulnerable to these compounds although given a few months you will develop a resistance like the Elendari and myself.’
‘So this is an illusion.’ she replied and thought of Aquitain and a small green bear appeared in her hand. It flew down to the floor and grew to a full size bear standing only two paces away from him growling.
His eyes turn
ed golden.
‘So that’s how you did it. Remarkable! You created an illusory defender to ward off any attacking illusions. I wasn’t aware that you were an illusionist as well as a druid.’ he replied.
‘I’m not. I mean I didn’t know I could create illusions.’ she replied as she dismissed the illusion of the bear.
‘Illusions are mental images that take on a magical presence that can be seen by others. If those others are not aware that they are illusions then they can be influenced by them. Here on Moonmist where the magic is strong the illusions seem much more real.’
‘Fearful illusions can be great weapons reducing people’s ability to think straight, causing them to panic, freeze or flee. Benevolent illusions can boost courage and morale. Illusions can be used for defence. An illusory wall in front of you can hide you. If you created several copies of yourself an attacker would not know which was the real you. An expert illusionist might even convince her onlookers that she was invisible. Illusions can also pass on information or misinformation. I use them to get people to forget who they are and assume a new identity.’
‘So that’s how you do it. You literally scare people into forgetting who they are.’ said Mirada.
Before she could ask any more questions there was a knock on the door.
‘Quick. Change to Dragonfly and act confused.’
Miranda walked over to the mirror changed to Dragonfly and stood looking at herself.
‘You may enter.’ said the wizard and with a wave of his hand the door opened and in walked Zephira.
Miranda was lost for words.
‘Hello Lash, to what do I owe this honour?’
‘Who’s that?’ asked Lash pointing to Dragonfly.
‘That’s the druid girl brought in a couple of days ago. I’ve altered her mind a little and given her a new appearance and name. She’s now called Dragonfly.’
‘That’s not the druid brought here from Mudrun. She was much prettier.’
‘You’re quite correct Lash. I’ve cast a glamour on her to change her appearance to match her new name.’
‘I’m not talking about your stupid illusion wizard. I can see right through that. I’m talking about her real appearance. I saw it in the dungeon. That’s not the woman the Huntmaster captured. The real one was very pretty. This one is about as ugly as you can get and still be Newman.’